How do you imagine Africa? You can join the discussion, explore and also have a lot of fun tomorrow, Oct. 26, at Penn Museum‘s Evening to Imagine Africa, a free event for neighbors, friends and first-time visitors. This community night is part of special programming around the new gallery project Imagine Africa with the Penn Museum, an initiative using a new visitor-centered method of exhibition planning.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. and feature two workshops – a Hip Hop dance workshop with an instructor from Rennie Harris RHAW, and an African Dance Workshop with the Penn student group African Rhythms. Also in the program: belly dancing with Habiba, and Spoken Word with the Philly Youth Poetry Movement. Complimentary refreshments will be served.

Tomorrow’s night is the first of three free Wednesday evening community nights. The additional nights will run March 28 and May 23, 2012. To learn more about the Imagine Africa with the Penn Museum project go to this page.

West Philly folks: Get ready for some Halloween madness this and early next week. Here’s a rundown of spooky happenings for adults, kids and pets! (We’ll be adding to the list. If you know of something that should be included please email: editor[at]westphillylocal.com).

Tuesday, October 25

 
Movie Night: Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Dock Street Brewery, 701 S. 50th Street
8 p.m.
21+
For more information go here.

Thursday, October 27

 
Variety Show! Halloween Round-Up with the Suitcase Junket
Green Line Cafe, 4426 Locust Street
7 p.m.
Free
All ages
The West Philly Round-Up has a Halloween theme and a special challenge: How many accordionists can fit into the Green Line on one night? If you’d like to perform (any genre welcome), email bate.emily[at]gmail.com. This Round-Up will also feature a special guest, one-man-band The Suitcase Junket.

Friday, October 28

 
Annual Halloween Party
International House, 3701 Chestnut Street
9 p.m.
$10 general admission; $8 students + seniors; Free for IHP members + residents
21+
Come out to play and dance with ghosts and goblins as IHP is transformed into a haunted playground. Enjoy music, food, beer and a costume contest at midnight!
 

Saturday, October 29

 
Drinker’s Halloween Massacre
Drinker’s West, 3900 Chestnut St.
8 p.m. – 2 a.m.
21+
Website

“Heroween” Celebration
City Tap House, 3925 Walnut Street
9 p.m.
$10 per person
The event will benefit the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House. Featuring DJ, dancing, raffle and a Halloween fashion show. There will be prizes for best costume, best team costume, and highest fundraiser. Sign-up for a costume or make a donation and enter for free. Otherwise, a $10 donation will be collected at the door.
For more information go here.

Rocknoceros Halloween Party!
World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut Street
11:30 a.m.
Adults: $10; Children: $7 (ages 1-12); Free for children under the age of one
Presented by Peanut Butter & Jams.
For more information and to buy tickets go here.

Sunday, October 30

 
Howl-O-Ween Dog Parade
Pleasant Park Nursing Home, 4712 Chester Avenue
2 p.m.
Halloween themed costume parade featuring the dog park dogs. Fun for all ages.

Monday, October 31

 
Halloween Tot Parade
Meeting by Milk & Honey (45th & Baltimore)
4 p.m.
Featuring the Penn Drum Band, costumes, dancers and trick or treating! Parade will begin by 4:30 p.m., proceed to Larchwood Avenue, to 43rd Street and end at “Little Osage” between 42nd and 43rd Streets.

Curio Theatre Company is about to start a series of fun interactive performances for children. On selective Saturdays through May 2012 kids and their parents/guardians are invited for a unique theater experience with Kid Curio and the Improv Avengers. Children will have an opportunity not just to watch the show, but also to be part of it.

The show is run by two Curio Theatre company members, Eric Scotolati and Ryan Walter, and is geared toward kids ages 6 – 12. There will be lots of games and laughing, but the show also will help kids learn the basics of improvisation and develop useful public speaking skills.

The first show is this Saturday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. Tickets are only $5. Please go here for more information and to purchase tickets online.

Here’s a full list of Kid Curio show dates:

October 22 & 29
November 5
December 17 & 28
January 7
February 18 & 25
April 28
May 5 & 12

Most of the 5,000 prisoners incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, will die there. Angola is the largest maximum security prison in the United States. Prisoners there have long sentences, virtually life sentences. West Philly-based photographer Lori Waselchuk released a book this summer documenting the prison’s inmate-run hospice program, which provides dying prisoners some comfort and dignity in their last days. You can talk to her about it this Sunday.

Waselchuk will sign her book, Grace Before Dying, and talk about the project as part of an event hosted by the West Philly-based non-profit Books Through Bars on Sunday, Oct. 16. Running from 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the A-Space (4722 Baltimore Ave.), the event will also feature quilts made by Angola inmates that are part of a traveling exhibit (now at Saint Joseph’s University) accompanying the Grace Before Dying project. Local quilters and textile artists will also be on hand to discuss their work.

The event ends with a screening of the documentary In the Land of the Free, which tells the story of Angola inmates Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King, also known as the Angola 3, who between them spent almost a century in solitary confinement. Wallace and Woodfox are still in solitary after more than 37 years.

Here is a schedule for the event:

3:30 p.m. – Quilter’s Roundtable. Local quilters and textile artists will present their work.

5 p.m. – Reception

6 p.m. – Lori Waselchuk talk and book signing

7 p.m. – Screening of the In the Land of the Free

Don’t miss this pretty amazing exhibit at Green Line Cafe on Locust (4426 Locust Street). The cafe has launched the Screens ‘N’ Spokes art show that benefits multiple sclerosis research and the cycling team that promotes the cause.

The exhibition features a very cool selection of screen prints by a variety of North American artists who created their work especially for this cause. The prints can also be viewed and purchased on Etsy. All of the proceeds from the sales will go to the National MS Society.

Here is some more information on the Screens ‘N’ Spokes project and the people behind it.

Curio Theatre Company opens its 7th season this week with Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, which will run from October 12 to November 12. The preview shows are on Wednesday, Oct. 12 and Thursday, Oct. 13 at 8 p.m.

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, an American playwright and recipient of a MacArthur fellowship, retells the myth of Orpheus from the perspective of his wife Eurydice. Ruhl created some new characters, such as Eurydice’s father, and made several changes to the original myth’s storyline. The play premiered at Madison Repertory Theatre in 2003 and off-Broadway in New York in 2007.

It’s interesting that Curio’s artistic director Paul Kuhn will be playing Eurydice’s father, and Eurydice’s role will be played by his real life daughter, Tessa Kuhn. All in all, it promises to be a delightful show from start to finish.

For more information on the show schedule and to purchase tickets ($15-$20) go to this page.